The politician has no consciousness

Werner, you have already gone too far – you will not listen. Just to be a politician is enough, but you are a revolutionary radical politician – cancer doubled, trebled! Is not politics enough? Have you to be radical, revolutionary? But we always find beautiful words to hide ugly realities.

No politician can be revolutionary, because the only revolution is spiritual. No politician can be radical either; the very word “radical” means concerning the roots. The politician only prunes the leaves, he has nothing to do with the roots. Only enlightenment takes you to the roots, only meditation takes you to the roots of the problems.

Politics has existed always, politicians have existed always, but what has happened? The world remains the same sorry-go-round! In fact, misery goes on becoming multiplied every day. All these revolutionaries and radical politicians have only proved to be mischievous – with good intentions, of course; but intentions don’t count at all – what counts is consciousness.

The politician has no consciousness; in fact, he is trying to avoid his own inner problems, he is trying to escape from his own problems. And the easiest way to escape from oneself is to become concerned about world problems, economics, politics, history, service to the poor, transformation of the conditions of the society, reformation. All these are strategies for escaping from one’s own problems – subtle strategies, dangerous, because one feels that one is doing something great, while one is simply being a coward.

Werner, first face your own problems, encounter them. First try to transform your being. Only a transformed person can trigger processes of transformation in others.

You ask me: Osho, have you something to say to me?

Remember two things. First, the three rules of ruination.

There are three ways to be ruined in this world:
first is by sex, second is by gambling, and the third is by politics.
Sex is the most fun, gambling is the most exciting, and politics is the surest.

Second, also remember the fundamental law of all revolutions:
when the revolution comes, things will be different – not better, just different.

Politicians have been driving the whole world for centuries – to where, to what end? Is it not time enough that we should see the whole stupidity of the game? At least we are aware, fully aware, of five thousand years of politics; before that the case must have been the same, but after five thousand years of political games what has happened? Man remains in the same darkness, in the same misery, in the same hell. Yes, politics goes on giving him hope – a hope for a better tomorrow, which never comes. Tomorrows never come.

It is the opium of the people. Karl Marx says religion is the opium of the people. It is true, ninety-nine point nine percent it is true; just point one percent it is not true. A Buddha, a Jesus, a Lao Tzu, a Zarathustra, just these few people can be counted in that point one percent, otherwise Karl Marx is ninety-nine point nine percent right, that religion has proved the opium of the people. It has kept people in a drugged state, almost in such a sleep that they can tolerate an intolerable existence, that they can tolerate all kinds of slavery, starvation, in the hope of a better tomorrow. Religions used to give this better tomorrow in the other world, after death.

People come to me and ask, “What will happen after death?” I don’t answer them, I ask them another question instead. I ask them, “Forget all about after death, let me ask you one thing: what is happening before death?” Because whatsoever is happening before death will continue to happen after death. It is a continuum: your consciousness will be the same – before or after will not make any difference. The body may not be the same, the container may change, but the content will remain the same. Whatsoever happens is happening to the content, not to the container.

Think about the goose, don’t be bothered about the bottle. You may have a different bottle, better-produced, of better material, more sophisticated, a crystal bottle, a diamond bottle, but that does not make any difference. What makes the difference is your consciousness – the goose.

First, religion was giving opium to the people “tomorrow,” “after death.” Millions of people remained in that state of druggedness, under that chloroform – religious chloroform. Now politics is doing the same. Even communism has proved nothing but a new opium for the masses – communism is a new kind of religion. The strategy is the same: “Tomorrow will come the revolution, and everything will be all right.” You have to sacrifice your today for tomorrow, and the tomorrow never comes.

Sixty years have passed since the Russian Revolution, and the tomorrow is still as far away as before. Thirty years have passed since the Indian Revolution, the Gandhian Revolution, and the tomorrow remains as far away, in fact, farther away than before. The people who sacrificed, sacrificed in vain; it would have been better if they had lived. The people who were killed were really committing suicide, hoping that they were doing great service to humanity.

Don’t create more madness in the world, Werner, it is already full of madness.

A colleague of mine once worked in a mental hospital. While making the rounds he would test the patient by asking, “Why are you here?” The response usually revealed the patient’s degree of reality orientation.

One morning the psychologist received a response that rocked him. “I am here,” replied the patient, “for the same reason you are, doc. I couldn’t make a go of it in the outside world.”

The patients and the doctors, the people and the politicians are all in the same boat. They are all Ayatollah Khomaniacs! All kinds of maniacs are loose in the world. Werner, if you drop out of your radical revolutionary politics there will be at least one Khomaniac less and that will be a great blessing.

Osho, The Goose is Out, Ch 2, Q 2